Broken Piece

Sorted Piece

Anna hadn't brought up anything about how she was during the whole shopping trip, just asking her about herself and stories about when Davison, Anderson, Peter, and her were all in college. The Davison she described and had stories about were much different from the one Callie knew, and was much more like the one her mom had talked about. Kind, funny, and selfless.

It wasn't until she and the woman had sat down at a sandwich shop that Anna actually seemed to be more serious and concerned.

Anna seemed nice enough, in Callie's opinion. She had conversations easily and never seemed to grasp for things to say. She's really pretty, Callie noticed how eyes would follow them (Anna) through the mall and how guys flirted, but she either didn't notice or pretended not to notice. Anna was the total package, and Callie found herself watching the woman with envy a couple of times.

Anna seemed to be a bit of a shop a holic though, as they visited nearly every store in the mall, some twice, even children clothing stores (she said she had a couple of nieces). Callie was exhausted both mentally and physically once they reached the sandwich shop.

Anna had bags all around her feet at the table they sat at, but Callie hadn't bought a thing, though Davison had given her his credit card. She didn't dare buy a thing. Anna didn't voice an opinion about her no buying anything or tried to get her too, but Callie did catch the slightly older woman watching her as she admired a few things that caught her attention.

"How is married life?" Anna's question started off innocent enough as she sipped her iced latte.

Callie moved the straw around in her glass and forced smile. "A bit different then what I was expecting." She answered honestly.

Anna nodded. "I can only imagine, I don't think I'll ever tie myself down like that." She waved her hand in the air. "There's too much to see, too much to do. I mean, a fear of mine is marrying this guy only for me a couple years later to fall for a completely different guy. I've been called flaky." She laughed. Callie was unsure if she should or not, it was one thing to laugh at the expanse of yourself.

"That's understandable," Callie simply agreed, deciding to sip her juice.

"How's Davison, I mean, I know he can be an asshole."

"He's fine," Callie blurted, her nerves getting the best of her. Anna frowned at her lightly, seeming to sense she was lying.

"Are you sure because Anderson to-"

"If I told you I was lying," Callie interrupted, voice shaky, but sharp, "if I told you your best friend who you described as the kindest guy ever, gentle, and brilliant, was really a monster who scares the s**t out of me, what would you do? You have no allegiance to me, no reason to take my word over his, and no reason to betray him by helping me. You would what? Talk to him?" Callie had to admit, she was a bit annoyed. She knew the whole reason Anna wanted to spend time with her was because of Anderson's concerns, and the reason he was concerned had nothing to do with her and everything to do with their friend acting out of character. They wanted to help him not her. She wished she had friends like that.

Like the good friends they were, they would choose Davison over her. She couldn't blame them.

Anna opened her mouth and closed it. "I-"She finally began.

"You have no reason to worry, Anna, because Davison isn't a monster and he is the kind, gentle, and sweet man everyone seems to think he is." Callie interrupted again with a forced smile.

Anna's frowning face seemed to get more troubled. "So, you're fine?"

Callie hated that she asked that, she really did. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the waiter coming with their sandwiches and chips. "Yeah, we're good."

Before Anna could say anything else the waiter was there setting their food down. Callie quickly went to work putting extra mustard on her sandwich.

"Well..." Anna began, making Callie glance up briefly. "I'm glad to hear that." She smiled a bit strained. Just as she was about to unwrap her own sandwich, her phone began to ring. Callie went back to focusing on her sandwich. "What do you want, Davison?" That made her look at. "We're eating sandwich's. No, I haven't corrupted your wife, no need to worry." She paused and rolled her eyes. "Why not just call her and ask her all of this s**t? Byyye!" She hung up. "Your husband is annoying."

"He means well," Callie found herself saying. She shivered at how much she sounded like her mom when the woman made excuses for how her husband treated her. She wasn't hungry anymore, but she forced herself to open her chips and place one in her mouth.

"He's being overbearing? I mean, you've been gone, what? Two hours? And he's not even home." She rolled her eyes. "See why I cannot be married now?"

Callie forced a laugh.

(BP)

"You didn't buy anything?"

Callie looked up from the chicken she had just taken out of the oven and glanced back at Davison. She sucked in a silent breath. Anna had left her hours ago and she had been back with plenty of time to make dinner.

"No," she answered, checking on her vegetable.

"And why not? She'll wonder why you didn't seem to want to buy anything."

Callie didn't want to look at him and she felt close to crying. She thought she did the right thing by not buying anything, but now he was mad at her for not buying anything. She couldn't win.

"Sorry," was all she could say.

"Be smarter next time," He took his jacket off and laid over the back on kitchen chair. She nearly jumped out of her skin when he kissed her on the cheek. She quickly spun around to look at him, but he was already rolling up his sleeves and reaching for a plate. He glanced at her. "You should be doing that to me after I get home from a long day's work."

She looked down, wanting nothing more than her bed. "You want me to do that?" She didn't understand. She honestly felt as if she should give up even trying too.

"I said so didn't I?"

She rubbed a hand across the back of her neck. "Why?"

"You're my wife," he said simply. She didn't comment, having nothing to say, not to him anyway.

While he ate she went into the living room to wait for him to finish so she could clean up. As she sat on the couch, her mind wondered the way it usually did when the wasn't cleaning or cooking. She considered her life and her current situation. And like always, her chest would get heavy and her thoughts would move too quickly for her to truly comprehend. She was trapped and her future, whatever that was, was daunting and overwhelming. Was this really how she would have to live her life?

She balled into herself and covered her face with her hands, but her eyes remained open as she stared unseeingly between her fingers. She didn't want to do this anymore, and she had thought this way for a long time, before Davison even.

She thought of her mom and it was nearly enough to make her moan in pain. It hurt so bad she wanted to claw at her chest. She wanted to cry, even felt as if she should to release it all, but her eyes remained dry.

She felt stuck.

"What are you doing?"

Her hands fell away from her face and she looked up at Davison. His eyes were narrowed at her as if he had caught her planning his murder. She looked away from him feeling annoyance and trepidation.

She hated that and hated him for being the root of the emotions. She had never wanted to be like her mother, but here she was. It was like fate.

"Are you finished with your dinner?" She questioned instead of answering his question.

"Yeah," he answered.

She avoided looking at him as she stood and headed back towards the kitchen but froze when he grabbed her wrist as she drew nearer. She looked at his large white hand wrapped around her tiny, brown wrist, she could just feel how easy it would be for him to snap it, before pulling her gaze up to his face.

He smirked at her. It was sort of funny, for someone who wasn't born rich, he sure had the asshole rich boy smirk down. Callie didn't even crack a smile though. He tapped his cheek with his free hand. "A goodnight, kiss?" She tried not to look disgusted, she really did, but his mean laugh suggested he read her easily. "Don't be so disgusted, Callie. I think I'm the one that should feel disgusted." His eyes moved up and down her condescendingly. "You should feel honored."

Callie's eyebrows shot up, but she knew she shouldn't be surprised by his words. A jolt of anger ran through her and she pulled her wrist out of his hold and started for the kitchen again, she would not be hurt by his words.

He caught her again though, by her wrist once again, this time his hold solid like steel. "Callie," his voice buzzed with warning.

Humiliated, defeated, and weak, Callie stood on her tip toes and place a feather light kiss on his cheek. She then broke his hold again, though she was sure he allowed it, and made her way back into the kitchen. She heard him laugh.